News Overview

BY JESSICA LEIGHT, JESSICA HECKERT AND AULO GELLI Integrated interventions aimed at improving both livelihoods and nutrition outcomes are an increasingly important element of policy initiatives for rural development. Such interventions seek to both increase households’ engagement in value chains producing more nutritious foods, and increase consumption of those foods, often using a range of program elements. Rigorous evaluation methods

BY MAN LI, ZHE GUO AND WEI ZHANG Excess nitrogen produced by agricultural activities, mainly from manure and chemical fertilizers, is a primary source of nutrient pollution and presents serious environmental threats to natural ecosystems and human health. Particularly when it reaches bodies of water, excess nitrogen can lead to dead zones, hypoxia, fish kills and algal blooms that threaten biodiversity,

BY THOMAS WHAMOND With the approach of the 12th WTO Ministerial Conference (WTO MC12) Nov. 30-Dec. 3 in Geneva, Latin American and Caribbean countries face major challenges in the governance of agriculture and food trade—particularly the need for predictable and transparent trade systems critical for food security and environmental sustainability in the region and for the world. A new book, The

BY KARLA ESTRADA As climate change impacts escalate, food systems around the world and the people and communities depending on them face a range of problems including extreme weather events, the effects of heat on agricultural productivity, and limiting greenhouse gas emissions. In advance of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) underway Oct. 31-Nov. 12 in Glasgow, IFPRI researchers discussed four

BY KARLA ESTRADA Although women are key actors in across food chains and the global food system, their contributions are often overlooked and undervalued due to gender norm biases and unequal distribution of resources—problems compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus gender equality is a critical factor in rebuilding and transforming food systems, including promoting the adoption of new technologies and

BY EUGENIO DÍAZ-BONILLA International Monetary Fund (IMF) members and staff must be congratulated for the much-needed allocation of Special Drawing Rights ($650 billion), issued in August, to help individual countries and the global economy overcome impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva argued that it was crucial “that these SDRs are used as effectively as possible … and with

BY QIYUN HUANG China faces ongoing challenges integrating the economies of its rural and urban areas as it seeks to build on the dynamism of cities to benefit the country’s large population of rural residents—who continue to face widespread poverty and other problems. A Sept. 24 workshop explored these issues in light of China’s “common prosperity” policies, COVID-19 impacts, and more. The

BY CLAUDIA RINGLER AND ELIZABETH BRYAN The International Day of Rural Women (Oct. 15) was established more than a decade ago to recognize the central role of women in improving rural development and food security. It was placed directly before World Food Day (Oct. 16) to highlight women’s key roles in agricultural production, in food processing and marketing, as well as in the preparation